Peyton's grin

Anyone who has ever been a parent can relate that the most miserable part of being one is when your child is hurting, sick or been involved in an accident. I experienced the call, that no parent ever wants to have on November 23, 2019.

My middle child and oldest son, Peyton, (13) asked me that Saturday morning if he could go ride bikes with a few of his friends. No different than most any other weekend, I agreed and asked that he check in with me periodically. He hugged my neck, said "Thank you dad, I love you" and scurried out the door. 

So when my phone rang a few hours later, with his face on the screen, I answered with a "hey son", not suspecting what was to come...the voice that responded was not that of my son, I knew in that moment something was not quite right. I could hear the frantic desperation in my ear, breaking into fragments as the phone cut in and out. The voice coming through my phone was that of my son’s friend who used the ICE feature to make the call, his verbiage wasn't exactly clear, but I from what I could make out, he was telling me "they were riding their bikes and Peyton was hit by a car and there is blood everywhere!!" Beyond his voice there was a lot of commotion, people yelling and the distant sound of sirens. The seconds played out in slow motion as I tried to gather my thoughts and tried to gain the precise location of their whereabouts. I asked him to not hang up and give me the closest land mark so I could get to them. He said "the high school" I responded with "which one? There are three of them." He told me which one and where they were headed and I knew the general direction I needed to go.

As fate would have it, traffic was not on my team and added a little extra to my overall experience. I arrive on the scene to a Pearland paramedic speading a white sheet over my sons body. Emotions got the better of me and my mind immediately fill with the worst thoughts unimaginable, I race out of my truck to see my son only to be, let say greeted by Pearland PD.  A sergeant instructs me to allow the paramedics to do their job and I ask if he's alive?  I am able to make my way next to Peyton and tell him "dad is here...can you hear me?" its then that he looks up and lifts his left hand in my direction, his face covered in blood, and says "I love you dad, I am sorry"...then he loses consciousness again. The paramedics load him into the ambulance and deliver him to Memorial Hermann downtown Houston to the pediatric ER. 

Peyton suffered two fractures to his face, on his right side and one to his right leg. In total, he lost three teeth - two complete teeth and two separate halves of neighboring teeth. He received approximately 160 stitches to his lips and chin. (Both lips were split in half vertically) He suffered a signifcant amount of road rash and rather serious concussion. 

Great news is - Peyton's ALIVE. God is good! I am so incredibly grateful for the blessing of friends, prayers, well wishes. Peyton is well on the road to recovery but as you can tell has  suffered some signifcant changes to his appearance, most notably - his smile.

Almost three months after the accident the medical bills are piling up and Peyton still requires a signifcant amount of dental work. He requires a bone graft where his incisor used to be as much of the bone came out with that tooth. He will need one tooth removed that was cracked and still in place as it is keeping good bone in its current position. When all work is completed he will have three replacement teeth and his front tooth will be veneer.

Which leads me to gofundme...I have remarkable insurance, however they don't cover 100%. And the dental work is quickly taking front seat as the most expensive repair, most of which still hasn't happened, partly due to healing and moslty due to cost. (And unfortunately doesn't fall under medical coverage.) As you can tell in the photos, he's already completed ortho work and now we need to replace missing teeth. (I lovingly joked with him about wanting two front teeth for Christmas - he didn't get them)

I imagine you might be asking yourself...what about the motorist who struck him and their insurance. Per the details of the police report, Peyton's bike front tire clipped the rear tire of his friends bike, causing Peyton to lose control of his bike and put him in the road way, where he was struck by the car. I spoke with the insurance company of the driver and they are claiming no fault. No citation was issued and frankly doesn't matter to me, I merely want to see my son smiling as frequently as I had grown accustomed to seeing.

If you feel moved to "give" him back his smile...we'd both be extremely grateful.

Cheers!